The sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon in the pre-dawn hours of the cold, November morning a couple of seasons ago.  A pale lemon glow to the east and songbirds stirring in the distance signaled that daybreak wasn't far off.

   The air was brisk.  In this part of Texas, the cold does not creep in subtly most years.  Winter in the Panhandle is often a study in contrasts.  One day you will have Indian Summer conditions.  The next, snow covers the ground.  Like a determined army, "blue northers" invade the flat expanses of the uppermost part of the state and leave nothing but a chilly legacy.

   The old-timers say that only the mesquite tree knows when winter truly arrives in North Texas for they will yield their leaves upon its onset.  On this day, the mesquites stood like bare skeletons when Bill Graves and Shannon Welche came to Texas to hunt the elusive and sometimes dangerous feral hog. 

   Graves, a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and his old army buddy Welche, from Coloma, Michigan, are no strangers to adventurous, traditional bowhunts.  The two have hunted for white-tailed deer in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin, black bear, grizzly, caribou, and moose in Alaska, as well as turkey, coyotes, bobcats, and other game.

   The journey to the Texas Panhandle proved to be a learning experience for both.  Neither one had ever been to this part of Texas before and both had preconceived notions of the area being pancake-flat and windswept.  They were in for a surprise.

   The Panhandle is actually an ecologically diverse region that is home to many species of wildlife.  On the western side of the Panhandle is the Llano Estacado or staked plains.  At varying times in history Spanish explorers, Plains Indians, and sprawling cattle drives have crisscrossed its expanse. 

   On the eastern edge of the Panhandle, the plains drop off into undulating, red-soil hills.  The Rolling Plains of Texas, historically, is a short grass prairie.  Over time, however, mesquite, juniper, prickly pear, and yucca have encroached and now dot, and sometimes dominate, the landscape.  What once was home to millions of buffalo is now the haunt of the desert mule deer, a trophy class population of white-tailed deer, and the introduced feral hog.

    In Texas, feral hogs are listed as exotic species.  That means that they can be hunted anytime of year without imposed bag limits.  All a hunter needs to do to hunt the quasi-beasts are to secure a place to hunt and obtain a current hunting license.  Because hunting pressure is negligible and their reproductive capacity is extremely prolific, the number of hogs in the area, as well as the state, is on the increase.

   Cutting through the area where the hunt took place is several rivers and creeks that transform the rolling prairies into rough, foreboding badlands.  Along these drainages is where most of the big game in the southeast corner of the Panhandle calls home.

   The Pease River country is a land that time forgot.  It is a place of wide-open spaces and sparse settlement.  Most of the towns are at least thirty miles apart with most counties having only one center of population.  The headquarters of the hunt was in Childress, Texas.  Nestled in the extreme southeastern corner of the Panhandle, Childress is the largest town (population 5,050) and the center of trade for the area.

   The first day Graves and Welche arrived was spent doing some quick scouting.  The ranch that they were hunting was prime hog habitat.  It was twenty miles from the nearest town and bordered the Pease River.  Excellent cover was provided to the hogs in the form of deep feeder canyons, mesquite trees and salt cedar bushes.

   Hunting hogs in this, or any situation, is tough.  Unless you have the benefit of baiting them with corn or some other grain to concentrate them in one area, it is almost impossible to predict their movements due to their gregarious nature.  In the Pease River, a shortage of rainfall the summer before and a lack of water had caused the bed to become a deep sandpit - not exactly the easiest of scenarios to track animals in.  Therefore, it was a toss-up whether or not hogs would be seen over the long weekend outing.

   The first morning, the two were out of bed well before sun-up on their way to the river.  The weather condition, however, would make things tough on them.  During the night a front had moved through bringing with it a cold, misting rain and even colder twenty-mile an hour winds.  If anything was moving in the brush, it was only the two hunters.

   The day wasn't a complete loss, however.  Examining the thickly vegetated riparian area, plenty of hog signs were found indicating a large population.

   By nature, feral hogs are much like other forms of big game.  You can hunt them for days and not see anything but you can often find their calling cards.  Although wild hogs are not so much a creature of habit, as in the case of deer, tell-tale signs can tip you off to their presence.

   Rubs are the first sign to look for.  Although they have thick skin, feral hogs are very sensitive to itches caused by insects and other environmental factors.  Consequently, they are always looking for a place to rub against.  Most often, their rubbing post is a tree but I have seen cases where they have used creosote treated utility poles as a way to relieve themselves and apply a makeshift insecticide.

   Hog rubs are distinctly different from the ones that white-tailed bucks make.  Whereas a buck uses his antlers to shred the bark of a tree, a hog will rub its back against one.  Their coarse hair, combined with the repetitive up and down motion of scratching, will produce a smooth finish on the bark of a tree – much like as if it had been sandpapered.

   Wallows are another essential sign to locate.  When it is hot, every member of the porcine family, wild or domestic, has a hard time cooling off due to a relative lack of sweat glands.  They manage to lower their body temperature by wallowing in water or mud.  The dried mud acts as an insulator against the heat and a barrier against biting and sucking insects.  If you can locate a well used wallow, especially in a droughty area, your chances of seeing hogs are excellent.  Be cognizant of fresh tracks around the wallow as that is always a good sign of current activity.

   A third sign to look for is droppings.  Fresh droppings in large quantities mean that there is ample food to support a large population and that they could be close by.  Wild pig droppings are distinct in that they don’t resemble many other species’ scat in the Texas wild.  Look for elongated droppings that have acorn shells, berries, or other plant matter present.

   After a long days hunt, the pair headed back to town for some supper.  They were disappointed that they had traveled so far and seen nothing.  Their only consolation was that they still had one more full day of hunting left.  Maybe their luck would change.

   The next morning found them setting on a gypsum bluff that jutted up about thirty feet from the riverbed.  The wind had let up but it was still cold and misting.  Their strategy was to glass the river bottom and listen for any pigs grunting and, hopefully, make a stalk.

   Despite the popular myth, the wild hogs in Texas aren't Russian boars.  Instead, they are descendants of domestic hogs that have escaped or been released from farms and, over the course of a few generations, reverted to their wild state.  Documented reports of Russian strain hogs tell of their release back in the first half of the century.  Time and crossbreeding though has diluted the Russian genes and now it is the consensus of most biologists that Russian-strain hogs in Texas are hybrids.  Because of their relationship with the domestic pig, feral hogs still exhibit many of the same characteristics of their cousins.
   Domesticated, the expression of wild genes is suppressed because, from an economical standpoint, pigs with large hams, lean shoulders, and short snouts are most desirable for hog producers.  Once allowed to roam wild, a few short generations pass and feral hogs begin to exhibit their trademarked long snouts, hairier appearance, smaller hams, and broad, powerful shoulders.  Wild hogs have an excellent sense of smell and hearing but their shortcoming is in their eyesight.

   Poor eyesight is one of those characteristics and Bill and Shannon hoped to capitalize on the feral hog’s shortcomings that early morning.  Upon glassing a few hogs approximately 200 yards away, they made the descent down the bluff and into the riverbed.

   Working their way along a high sandstone wall, they were soon to the place where they had spotted the animals but there were none in sight.  Not wanting to give up, the two made their way into a thick grove of salt cedar bushes to see if they could flush the wary creatures.

   Salt cedars, an import to Texas, are a delicate looking tree that grows in thick bunches along streams and creeks and are often impenetrable without a lot of difficulty for a human.  Hogs, however, have no problem negotiating the thick growth. 

   Once the two had taken only a few steps into the trees, things got a little spooky.  The hogs had a found a water hole that was in the middle of the trees and were bedded down around it.  There were twenty multicolored hogs surrounded the pair without a clean escape route.

   Feral hogs, though, aren't savage killers as many tall tales have made them out to be.  Given legendary status in parts of Texas, the feral hog has earned a reputation of aggressiveness that isn’t substantiated.  They will charge, but normally only if injured, threatened, or cornered.  It is very seldom that an adult male will charge unprovoked.  However, a sow with babies can be dangerous as she tries to protect her young.  In the brush that day, there were some babies present in the salt cedars.

   After Graves and Welche spooked the bedded animals, there was a flurry of activity.  Hogs were running everywhere and the hunters were trying to find an escape - it was mayhem.

   Hogs are much the same as big bucks in the sense that you only get one chance at a shot before they bolt for cover.  Moreover, with a mature hog being able to run as fast in a short sprint as a horse, they don't hang around long.  Consequently, neither one of the hunters were ever presented with a makable shot. 

   They, however, feel as most hunters do - the true worth of a hunt can't be measured in terms of numbers or bag limits.  Instead, it is spending good times with companions in a serene setting.  A day later the two left Texas without a pig for the grill, but with good memories of an exciting hunt.

   Although the pair hunted with recurves, hogs are an exciting quarry to chase regardless of the weapon chosen.  A well-placed arrow is as effective as any firearm in downing one of the big pigs.  Rifle calibers of .243 or .270 are sufficient although some prefer larger calibers.  Personally, I have hunted ferals with a .44 caliber black powder revolver and found it to be exciting once the pigs were moving.  I even know an acquaintance that has hunted them with a replica .45 caliber Sharps #2 Sporter buffalo rifle.

   Whatever your mode of harvest, the most rewarding part of a successful hog hunt is the excellent fare that is yielded.  Wild hog meat is among the most flavorful and healthy of all the wild game found in Texas.  Although hams, cured and smoked, are a perennial favorite, tamales made out of the shoulder and neck meat are good as well as a mesquite grilled pork chop.

   As many already know, pursuing the feral hog is among the most challenging and exhilarating hunts you can go on without traveling far from home.  People tell me that the only thing that can match a feral hog hunt is the pursuit of grizzly bears.  I think I will stick to pigs.